Motivation & Resources for Learning Korean

Intermediate Grammar #26: ~(으)려던 참이다 “I was just about to…”

~려던 참이다:

Expresses a fact that the speaker was already intending to do at just that moment or very soon

Equivalent to “I was just about to…” OR “I had already been planning to…”

Usage:

Only used with Verbs

~(으)려던 참이다 = “I was just about to…” at that very minute

~(으)려던 참이었다 = “I had already been planning to…” at some time in the future

When responding to someone who suggests doing what you’d already thought about doing, use:

마침 (“just at this moment”)

그렇지 않아도 (“as a matter of fact”)

안 그래도 (“anyway/actually/already”)

DON’T: use future tense

CAN USE: ~(으)려던 참에 in the middle of a sentence – when a second clause follows the first

Tenses:

Verb:

~(으)려던 참이다

(스타워즈감독 제이제이에브럼스 – Star Wars Director J.J.Abbrams) Examples:

Most of the information presented below has come from this website that details everything we now know (April 2014) about the upcoming Star Wars 7 movie.

~(으)려던 참이다:

스타워즈7가 2015년 12월 18일에 나올 날짜가 알리려던 참이예요.
I was just about to let you know that Star Wars 7 will come out on December 18, 2015.

가능한 배우들이 인터뷰하려던 참에 비디오 녹화가 할 수 있겠니?
I was just about to interview possible actors, so is it possible to record that on video?

아담드라이버가 악당의 메이크업을 맡으려던 참이예요.
Adam Driver was just about to apply the villain’s makeup.

츄바카와 R2D2와 한솔로와 레이어공주와 루크스카이워커를 공항에서 데리고 오려던 참이고 오늘 촬영 할 거예요.
Chewbacca, R2D2, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Luke Skywalker were just about to arrive from the airport, so we are going to film today.

새로운 스타워즈 영화가 제다이의 귀한 영화를 삼십년 후에 한 것이 이야기 하려던 참이예요.
I was just about to make the new Star Wars film’s story set 30 years after The Return of the Jedi.

이제 스크립트를 다 쓰고 끝나려던 참인데 교정해주세요.
I was just about to finish writing the script, so please proofread it for me.

이 스타워즈 영화 시리즈의 원작을 우주에서 하려던 참이지만 책에서는 우주에서 안 하기로 확정 했어요.
I was already planning for this Star Wars movie to happen entirely in the original galaxy, and I just confirmed that it won’t be in the galaxy in the books.